Keeping Memories Alive

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The event described in this article took place this afternoon.

Operation Photo Rescue: Keeping Memories Alive for Katrina Victims

by Steve Cannizaro

Dave Ellis, a photo editor with a newspaper in Fredericksburg, Va., helped start up a non-profit group to try to restore photographs after he saw a picture of someone trying to clean a photo damaged in Hurricane Katrina’s flood water.

Ellis is co-president of a group, Operation Photo Rescue, which has been to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and to Jefferson Parish. But on Sunday from 2-5:30 p.m. representatives of the organization will be in Chalmette to gather storm-damaged pictures from the public for free restoration. The event will be held at 2010 West Beauregard Street, behind the First Baptist Church which is in the 300 block of East St. Bernard Highway.

OPR makes digital copies of damaged originals which are restored by some 900 volunteer members of a network that now spans 25 countries, Ellis said.

Once completed, the restoration is printed out and sent back to the image owner. This service is provided completely free of charge. OPR will take up to five photos from each individual or family. There is a limit to what level of damage can be restored, Ellis said, so residents are encouraged to bring what they can. The most salvageable images from each individual or family will be copied for restoration.

To date, he said, OPR has collected over 2,500 images from more than 500 victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Ellis said that as a photo editor in Virginia he saw a picture of a Hurricane Katrina victim trying to clean a damaged photo and he and others decided to put together a network where people with the computer skills to restore photos to try to help others.

“I looked at it as a way to use my skills to pitch in and help,’’ Ellis said. “Our slogan is insurance doesn’t restore memories gut we do.’’The most rewarding part of doing the restoration is being able to meet people and hear their stories, he said, although there are times it is emotional when the only photos someone has are damaged beyond restoration.

For more information, the group’s website can be reached here. Ellis can be reached at dellis@operationphotorescues.com or by cell at 540.834.8050.